Grant Recipients – Educational Services

College Bound Opportunities (CBO)

CBO, a local nonprofit, mentors low-income, high-achieving students, so they can attend and graduate from college. Most CBO Scholars are first generation college students, and without support, would likely forego college. Through CBO programs, including one-to-one mentoring between volunteers and scholars, tutoring, training services, laptop computers, and financial assistance during college, nearly 95% of CBO Scholars are graduating from college.

Highland Park High School – Estudiante to Student

Estudiante to Student partners with Elm Place and Northwood Middle Schools and HPHS to offer two after school mentoring programs. Future Giants pairs 8th graders with high school mentors to learn about various clubs, sports and elective courses to prepare the kids for freshman year. Rising Stars pairs the high school mentors with high-achieving Latino & African American 6th and 7th grade students who are interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering & math) activities.

Highland Park Golden Apple Award

In 2010, the Foundation and a local family foundation joined together with the Chicago-area Golden Apple Foundation to initiate an annual Golden Apple Award to recognize outstanding teachers in the Highland Park school systems. This award honors excellence in the teaching profession for grades kindergarten through twelve. The winner of the Highland Park Golden Apple Award receives a $2000 grant, a $500 Apple Gift Card, and recognition from the school, school district and the Highland Park Community Foundation.

Highland Park High School – Homework Club

Offered at Highland Park High School Monday through Thursday, Homework Club is a free after-school tutoring program in math, science, English and social studies. In addition to tutoring, students can receive counseling services as well as ACT prep. Anywhere from 23-50 students attend Homework Club each day.

Highland Park High School – National Hispanic Institute Leadership Scholarship

The HPCF grant enables Highland Park High School to send several high-achieving Latino students to the National Hispanic Institute (NHI) Leadership Conference. The week-long NHI Conference is held each summer at DePaul University, and students from across the US attend to learn leadership, communication, civic government and community activism skills.

Highland Park Library Lego Robotics Team

The Imperial Waffle Bots (the library’s very first competitive robotics team) is a dynamic rookie robotics team with members ranging in age from 8 years old to 12 years. Members use impressive computer programming skills and outstanding gamesmanship to participate in area competitions against other Lego robotics teams.